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Active and Passive Avoidance Calculator

Compute passive retention memory index, active avoidance percent, failure percent, ceiling QC, group SEM, and CSV export.

Passive RetentionActive AvoidanceCeiling QC

Avoidance scoring table

Switch between passive latency scoring and active shuttle avoidance sessions. The calculator reports animal-level endpoints, group mean plus SEM, and CSV exports.

Cutoff latency (s)
AnimalGroupAcquisition latency (s)Retention latency (s)No shockMemory indexQC
228.0OK
248.0OK
108.0OK
263.0Ceiling risk
One or more no-shock controls have retention latency above 250 s. Treat passive avoidance retention as a ceiling-limited endpoint until shock calibration, cutoff, and baseline activity are reviewed.

Group mean memory index

  • Compute passive avoidance memory index from acquisition and retention latencies
  • Score active two-way avoidance percent, failure percent, and session learning curves
  • Summarize treatment groups with mean and SEM
  • Flag passive no-shock ceiling risk near the retention cutoff
  • Export tidy animal-level or session-level CSV data

Don't use for

  • Raw video tracking or chamber event parsing
  • Fear conditioning freezing analysis
  • Shock sensitivity calibration as a standalone endpoint

Resources

  • Shock intensity and duration documented
  • Cutoff latency fixed across groups
  • Acquisition and retention intervals recorded
  • No-shock or vehicle controls reviewed for ceiling effects
  • Intertrial crossings inspected for active avoidance sessions
  • Exclusion criteria defined before scoring

Avoidance Paradigms

Avoidance assays quantify aversive learning with either passive withholding of a punished action or active emission of a shuttle response. Passive avoidance is usually a one-trial learning and retention paradigm. Active two-way avoidance is a repeated-session acquisition paradigm.

This calculator keeps the two paradigms separate so latency and count-based endpoints are not mixed in one spreadsheet.

Metrics and Math

Passive memory index equals retention latency minus acquisition latency. Group summaries use animal-level memory index values.

Active avoidance percent equals avoidance responses divided by avoidance plus escape plus failure trials, multiplied by 100. Failure percent uses the same denominator.

Quality Control

Review passive no-shock rows with retention latencies above 250 s because they can indicate a ceiling-limited assay or locomotor suppression. In active avoidance, compare failures with intertrial crossings to separate learning deficits from hyperactivity or nonspecific shuttling.

Frequently Asked Questions

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